Teaching

Each of us approaches education from a unique social location, a personal history and context. I often teach through the rubric of popular culture because it's one of those places where our understanding of the world may likely ‘overlap' and intersect. I am not suggesting that we always agree on the definition and/or the merits of popular culture; quite the contrary. However, I believe culture becomes ‘popular' because it speaks to something familiar in our understanding of ourselves as social beings - for better or for worse. The key is tracing out what that ‘something' is and learning from it in a way that informs an active response to the present. I strongly believe that knowledge is made both inside and outside of the classroom, and for this reason, I encourage an ethics of mutual respect, difficult dialogue, and persistent, critical reflection about our practices in the university and in our various communities.

Research/Scholarship

My research interests include global hip hop culture, American and Comparative Cultural Studies, Critical Race Theory, Comparative Ethnic Studies and public scholarship. I am also interested in late nineteenth century American literature, realism and turn-of-the-century political and practical (everyday) conceptions of race, nation and empire.